Monday, August 1, 2016

The Bernie delegates - final night of the Convention

The Sanders delegates were quieter on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The pro-Palestinian signs from the first night were gone.


They did walk out Tuesday night after Bernie asked that the convention ratify the nomination of Hillary Clinton by acclamation. Honestly, we were happy to see them go. But they did come back. Some had taped their mouths shut. I guess that symbolized they had been quieted. The Clinton delegates were happy - no more interruptions! But some were talking through the tape.

The final night of the convention, the fringe Sanders supporters appeared in day glow shirts, ensuring that they stand out in the crowd.

We had a handful in the Texas delegation. The largest number were in the California delegation which sat across the arena from us. The empty seat in this picture to the right of James (in the sunglasses) was my assigned seat for the convention. To the left of James sat Kim, a "Super Volunteer" for Hillary.

I did notice the Sanders supporter behind me had a cowbell in her lap. Oh now, I thought to myself, the last thing I wanted to hear was a cowbell in my ear during Hillary's speech. I sent a text to two of my contacts with the TDP. OK - they were watching. Was cowbell on the banned list? We weren't sure.

Our instructions were texted to us by our Whip. Hold our signs high to cover any anti-Hillary signs and shout over any anti-Hillary chants with our own chants. The disruptions came during Leon Panetta's speech "No more wars" to which we chanted over "USA". It was silly. Nobody wants any more wars. During Bloomberg's speech, people were chanting "Stop and Frisk" I can't remember what we said to drown that out. James turned around and said de Blassio got rid of it. Maybe we should have yelled "Super Gulp!"

Unlike people watching at home, it was often difficult the hear the speeches well.

During Hillary's speeches, chanting was coming from the California delegation. Our Sanders supporters were relatively quiet. An out burst here and there, not when you expected it. A young man with a beard was very angry. Others look resigned. When the anti-Hillary chanting occurred, we changed back Hill-a-ry. I know we missed a lot of the speech. When I have time, I will need to watch the speeches on You Tube.

I did turn around several times to see if the Sanders delegates could find any common ground with Hillary during her speech. They did clap at her mention of Sanders and her point of overturning Citizens United. I hope they realize that the best chance of getting rid of Citizens United will be the election of a Democrat.

A lot of us Clinton delegates. were very angry about the disruptions. But we were still joyful at the nomination of our candidate. I felt sorry for some of them, especially one skinny young African American woman who was sobbing at the end.

My understanding was that Bernie Sanders did ask his delegates to stop the interruptions. But some wouldn't listen. The "Revolution" had become more important than the candidate.


Photo Courtesy of Jeff Strater

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